like wet stone, dust, and something older than the forest.
Lily pulled.
The plate rose heavy and slow, revealing a narrow set of steel rungs descending into darkness.
For one long second, she did not move.
Because every hard thing in her life had happened above ground.
Every insult.
Every lie.
Every locked door.
Every meal she skipped so Buck would not see her hands shake.
And now the mountain had opened beneath her like it had been waiting.
She climbed down.
Not because she was brave.
Because going back
